'Let the Right One In' remake: Right? Or wrong?

The American remake of Let the Right One Instarted production this week, which I knew because I felt a great disturbance in the force. I’m still not convinced the movie needs an American remake — especially one renamed Let Me In, which is not the same — but Richard Jenkins’ presence (as the Håkan character) gives me a sliver of hope. A tiny, tiny sliver.

I was wild about the original film, but I’m skeptical that an American version will tolerate the same level of silence, particularly at the hands of Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. Part of what made the original so evocative was how little the characters said to each other, how much of the development was internal and implied. Are there contemporary American movies that do that? I certainly can’t think of one.

But maybe, maaaaaaybe this will be okay. Again, Jenkins is a major plus, and if they had to re-situate the film on U.S. soil, New Mexico actually seems like an acceptable fit: A lot of the original film’s mood came from the desolate, uniform, minimal surroundings. The crunch of snow underfoot, the wisps of vapor characters’ breath left in the air, the starkness of an iced-over landscape — Oskar and Eli’s environment was not particularly hospitable, which emphasized how isolated and vulnerable the two were. An off-the-beaten-path neighborhood in the Southwest can (I hope!) capture that same feeling of lostness and insignificance that made the original’s setting seem so haunting.

PopWatchers, put me in the skeptical column. Where do you fall on the “hell to the no” to “a thousand times yes” spectrum?